USA > Illinois > Will County > Portrait and biographical album of Will County, Illinois : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 60
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ILLIAM DANBY has for thirty years been a resident of this county, and since com- ing here has attained an honorable place among its farmers and stock-growers, who are sus- taining and advancing its magnificent agricultural resources. He is a well known resident of Will Township, in which his farming operations are centered. Our subjeet is of English birth and breeding, born May 9, 1822, in West-Riding, of Yorkshire, a son of Robert and Rebecca (Latham) Danby, who were born in the same shire as himself. llis father was a farmer. He and his wife reared a family of six children, namely: Caroline, George, larvers, Charles, William and Richard, of whom George, Richard and William became citizens of this country. George came to the United States in 1853, settled in Will Township, and was eon- nected with the Illinois Central Railroad. Richard came in 1853 and settled in Croton. N. Y.
The subject of this biographical review came to
this country with his wife in the year 1858. He spent the following two years in Matteson, Ill., being employed on the Central Railroad. Desiring to give his attention to farming pursuits and having heard of the wonderful fertility of the soil of Will County. and of the success that followed the labors of its enterprising farmers and stock- raisers, he se- leeted this region as the most desirable location, and in 1860 took up his residence here. For six years he rented land until he accumulated sufficient money to place him on an independent basis, and in 1865 he purchased eighty aeres of land in Will Township. In November, 1870, he located on the one hundred and sixty acres of land in the same township, which he still occupies. Ile has added one hundred and sixty acres to it and now has a choice farm of two hundred and forty acres, which he has under admirable cultivation and is constantly improving. He is much interested in the cattle bus- iness, and for eight years has been a breeder of Here- ford cattle. When Mr. Danby first set foot on these shores he had a capital of $200 with which to make his new start in life. By superior management and excellent business tact he has greatly increased this and may now be considered one of the moneyed men of the township.
March 24, 1850, Mr. Danby and Miss Ann Kil- lingbeck united their lives and fortunes, and in her he has found a prudent helpmate and a true wife. She was born November 4, 1826, in the town of Snaith, Yorkshire, England, a daughter of William and Hannah ( Ellison ) Killing beck, likewise natives of Yorkshire. They were the parents of four chil- dren-John, Thomas, Ann and Harriet. John came to this county and first settled here and then took up his residence in Kansas. He married and had one son-Wilson. Thomas remained in England : two of his sons are living. Harriet, now Mrs. Hor- ner, lives in England; she has three sons-Fred, William and Herbert. The marriage of our subject and his wife has been blessed to them by the birth of six children: Caroline; Annie E., wife of Thomas Stewart; Blanche, wife of Joseph Jackson, of White County, Ind .; Arthur W., Charles A. and William A.
A man of sound intelleet and of unswerving integrity, our subject has made his life record an
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example of worth to others, and he is greatly re- spected for what he is and for what he has accom- plished. He is a good worker, his labors being directed by admirable judgment and far-reaching forethought. Hle is a man of sincere religious principles, as is shown by his every-day conduct, and in his wife the Methodist Episcopal Church find- one of its most valuable and conscientious members. He takes a deep interest in the affairs of his adopted country, of which he is a loyal citi- zen, and identifies himself with the Republican part.
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OIIN CORLETT. a well-known, wealthy farmer and stock-grower of Wesley: Town- ship. has by his liberality, publie spirit and large enterprise, been a potent instrument in bringing this section of the country to the front as a leading agricultural county. He is the forth- nate owner of an extensive farm, that in point of cultivation. improvement and productiveness is considered one of the most desirable in Northern Illinois.
Mr. Corlett was born August 1, 1832, on the homestead on the Isle of Man. to John and Ann 1
( McGregor) Corlett, and his father was a native of the same place as our subject, and was there reared to the life of a farmer. He subsequently became a soldier in the English Army, and fought with valor under the Duke of Wellington all through the lat- ter's campaigns in the Spanish Peninsula. and was also with the Iron Duke in the battle of Waterloo. He lost his left arm in Holland, and was discharged from the army. and pensioned at a sixpence a day during the remainder of his life. After leaving the service he married on the Isle of Man, his wife being a native of Scotland. She was about eight years of age when her parents removed to the Iste of Man, where she still makes her home at the ven- crable age of ninety-three. The father of our sub- ject died in 1870, at the ripe old age of eighty- three years. They were the parents of ten children. six of whom are now living. five of whom are resi- dents of this country.
The subject of this review was the fifth chill of
his parents. with whom he made his home until he was twenty-one,receiving the benefits of a common- school education. At eleven years of age, a manly, spirited. self-reliant lad, he began life for himself as a farm hand. In the spring of 1855, ambitious to make more of life than he could in the land of his birth, he came to this country, and from New York proceeded directly to Chicago, and from there to Kankakee City, thence to Roekville in the same county. He remained there four years, and after his marriage in 1859, came to this county, settled on his present farm and has ever since been a valued citizen of Wesley Township. He has pur- sued his calling with more than ordinary success and now has a large farm of four hundred and forty acres, besides owning six hundred and forty acres in Kansas. He has provided his farm with roomy, conveniently-arranged buildings, with the best ma- chinery for carrying on agriculture after the most approved methods, and has made it one of the most desirable estates in this part of the county, and be- sides raising rich harvests of grain, devotes much attention to rearing stock of fine grades.
January 1, 1859, Mr. Corlett was united in mar- raige to Mrs. Betsey McGilvery, nee Franklin, a daughter of Samuel and Betsey ( Appleby ) Frank- lin, natives of Vermont and New York, respec- tively. Her parents were married in the latter State and came to Ilinois in the early days of its settlement and were among the early pioneers of this township. In 1850, her father started over- land for California, died on the way. and was buried at Ft. Kearney. Her mother did not long survive the death of her husband but departed this life in 1851. They were parents of twelve children, three of whom are now living. Mrs. Corlett was born October 9. 1829. in Wayne County, N. Y. Of the children born to her and our subject. four are now living : William who was born October 15, 1859; Mary, September 26, 1863, is the wife of Ed. MeKimmy. of Kansas City; Minnie, born March 22. 1865, is the wife of Eugene Babcock, of Wesley Township, and they have one child; Ella. born September 1, 1867. is the wife of George Lancaster, of Wesley Township. and they have two children. William Corlett is a member of the Ma- sonic order.
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Mr. Corlett is a man of strong character, with a moral and mental make-up, that places him among our most intelligent and honorable citizens. 1Ie is well dowered with practical energy. activity and tenacity of purpose, and these traits besides lead- ing him to wealth have eminently fitted him for public service, and make him an influence as a pol- itician and supporter of the Republican party, of which he has been a stanch member since its or- ganization. Hle has been a member of the local School Board for twelve years and has earnestly forwarded the educational interests of the township. In 1885 and 1886 he represented Wesley on the County Board of Supervisors. le has been the Highway Commissioner for six years, and in that office has done much to better the highways and byways of the township. He built the dry run near .John Riehey's place. Hle interests himself in the questions of the day, particularly that of tem- peracce, and in word and act is a firm temperance man. lle and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is Stew- ard. Ile has always taken a prominent part in the Sunday-school and under his able administration as Superintendent for the past fourteen years, it has greatly increased in numbers andI influence.
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C APT. ROBERT STEVENS is numbered among the pioneers in Will County.in which he settled in the spring of 1831. Those who have never visited a frontier settlement, but who have been accustomed from childhood to the surroundings of our present civilization, can have but a faint conception of the life of the pioneers or of the credit due those who led the way in the de- velopment of the country. Nowhere has greater enterprise and sturdy manhood been exhibited than throughout the Mississippi Valley, during the early days of the various grand States into which its fer- tile expanse is now divided. and in no life are the more rugged virtues of character and the milk of human kindness more rapidly developed than in the primitive scenes of a new country. Among those to whom this section owes much, we might
say all, of its present prosperous condition and ad- vanced development, Capt. Robert Stevens oecu- pies an important place.
Not less worthy of honor than her husband, is the widow of Capt. Stevens, who began her resi- dence in this county in 1830, and who as a young lady. as a wife, mother and neighbor, has earned the deep respect of those among whom her life has been spent and a place side by side with her hus- band on the roll of the pioneers. They endured privations and toils, such as try men's souls, cheered by their belief in a bright future and by mutual sympathy, their labors being rewarded by worldly prosperity. a happy home and friendly feeling from without.
In Mason County. Ky., July 20, 1802. the eyes of Robert Stevens opened to the light. He was a child two years of age when his parents removed to Ohio, where he grew to man's estate, being ap- prenticed at the age of sixteen years to learn the trade of a tanner and currier. On the expiration of his apprenticeship he went to Indiana, where he labored until he took up his residence in Will County. Here he settled on a tract of land just east of Joliet, developing a fine estate and in the course of years becoming the owner of four hun- dred acres in one body, all of which was put in a fine condition and thoroughly improved. Although his services were desired in a publie capacity he found that his time was fully occupied by the con- duct of his personal affairs, and to his farm he de- voted himself almost exclusively.
The first wife of Capt. Stevens was Miss Lydia Ann Pence, who died in 1833. She had borne three children, all of whom are deceased. In what was then Cook County, but is now Joliet Township, Will County, October 29, 1835, our subject con- tracted a second matrimonial alliance. Ilis bride, Miss Nancy Kercheval, was born in Preble County, Ohio, October 28, 1814, but had resided in this county since she was sixteen years old. The happy union was blessed by the birth of six children, named respectively: Lewis, Thomas J., James, Sarah A., Mary A., and Albert. The husband and father was removed by death January 6, 1864, all the efforts put forth by his devoted wife and lov- ing children having been fruitless to prolong his
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ROB'T STEVENS.
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life. this mortal remains were deposited in Oak- wood Cemetery, being followed to their last resting place by a large concourse of citizens, to whom the pioneer had endeared himself and who sympathized deeply in the bereavement which had come upon his family.
Capt. Stevens took an active part in political affairs, being deeply interested in the welfare of the country and anxious that proper men should be elected to office. For a short time only he served as Sheriff, having been the first one elected in Will County, but giving up the position because his farm required his attention. He also held the office of Highway Commissioner. Since his death bis widow has remained on the homestead. She possesses an abundance of vitality, keenness of judgment and energy, and both looks and acts much younger than her years. She has been a member of the Methodist Church since 1834, her confession of faith being but the initiatory step in a life of consistent Christianity.
E LMER E. HENRY. The trade circhs of Joliet and vicinity recognize in Mr. Henry one of its most promising young business
men. He is principally interested in the glass and queensware trade, in which he has had a ripe ex- perience. and is meeting with unqualified success. For the past three years he has been proprietor of the most elegant establishment of this kind to be found in Northern Illinois. His straightforward methods of doing business, his genial disposition and his courteous treatment of all with whom he comes in contact. is a matter that is often made the subject of remark. Ilis establishment is prominently lo- cated on Chicago Street. and he carries a $10,000 stock of goods, from which during the year 1889 he effected sales to the amount of $30,000.
A native of Hunterdon County, N. J., our -uh- ject was born July 9. 1862, in the village of White House, to William E. and Susan C. Henry. now living in Joliet. When but a small child. Mr. Henry was brought by his parents to Joliet, and in
this city received his education. He commenced his business career at an early age, and is an apt illustration of the maxim that . a. good business well stuck to is sure to win." Ile served an ap- prenticeship of ten years as a clerk before embark- ing in business on his own account, and was thus equipped with a thorough experience, avoiding the mistake which so many make of attempting to do that of which they know nothing. Mr. Henry is unmarried.
ENRY KIPP owns a farm one and one-half miles from the village of DuPage. or Chan- nahon, as it is called, which is supplied with good buildings and all the needed improve- ments to make it one of the most desirable in this part of the county. A skillful and business-like farmer and stock-raiser, our subject is also pos- sessed of those characteristics that make him a trusty and capable civic official, and he bears an honorable part in the management of local public affairs.
Mr. Kipp is a native of the county. born in the township of Troy. February 17. 1847, to A. P. and Jane (Davis) Kipp, well-known pioneers of this county. The maternal grandmother of our subject died in 1872. at the venerable age of ninety-three years. She came from Wales when she was eighteen years old, and settled in Kendall County in an early day. The father of our subject was reared in Oneida County. N. Y., and came from there to Will County in 1837, in the prime of active man- hood. Ile was accustomed to handling horses. and he became a stage-driver on the Frink & Walker line from Chicago to Peoria. He was well known, was a fine man for his business, and was noted as being a good judge of horses. and the company employed him to match horses and train them for them. In 1819 he determined to follow the gold seekers to California. traveling by the way of New Orleans and Mexico. He remained there until 1852. engaged as before. and at one time, while driving. his horses or mules became frightened at some Indians who came suddenly upon them. and
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he was thrown off and went under the wheel of the wagon, which, with its load, weighed over seven thousand pounds. He was so badly injured that he had to give up his employment there and return to the States, as the expenses of staying there were so great, the doctors charging $30 for a visit. and he had to pay $10 a day for board. He returned by the way of the Isthmus of Panama, and coming to Joliet, established a livery stable there. He re- turned to the farm in 1856, where he remained till 1858, when he came to Channahon. In 1881 he purchased the place in which our subject now lives, and made his home with him until his death, De- cember 31. 1888. at the age of seventy-four years, four months and sixteen days. He was twice mar- ried. the maiden name of his first wife, the mother of our subject, being Jane Davis, and she was of Welsh parentage. She died in her twenty - fifth year, nine months after the birth of our subject. leaving two children, the eldest being Frances J .. now the wife of B. Schermerhorn, of Joliet. Mr. Kipp was married a second time, in 1855, to Mrs. E. W. Adams.
Ile of whom we write was reared in Channahon. and received a substantial education in the Iligh School of that place. Ile then adopted the profes. sion of teaching, and was thus successfully engaged in this county for fourteen years, commencing in 1869, and teaching steadily each winter. while giv- ing his attention to farming in the summer, and during that time he missed but one day from bis school. The place which he now owns was willed to him by his father, and although he has suffered greatly from rheumatism, he has been prospered in his agricultural undertakings.
October 21, 1871. was the date of Mr. Kipp's marriage with Miss Ella F. Bailey, daughter of Daniel and Susan ( Zarley) Bailey. They were among the pioneers of the county, and the Zarleys were also early settlers, being a noted family here in early days. Mrs. Bailey was born June 2, 1820, and is still living with her husband in Channahon. Our subject and wife have become the parents of four daughters, namely : Alma M., Helen Z., Grace B. and Jane K., a little miss of nine years.
Mr. Kipp is a frank, warm-hearted man. gifted with foresight in a large degree, and in him this
township finds a good eitizen, his fellow-townsmen a kind and obliging neighbor, and his family a true husband and devoted father. Hle is a sturdy Re- publican in his political views, always supporting his party ticket. His fellow-citizens, valuing his intelligence and capacity, have called him to office, and for two terms he has been Township Clerk, and for one term was Collector of the Township.
RA OWEN KNAPP. M. D. Among the early settlers of the county who played an important part in its development, the pioneer physician held a prominent and influential position, and as a noble type of the profession, we place before the patrons of this work, to many of whom he is well known and bound by no common ties, a brief life record of Dr. Ira Knapp. Coming to Northern Illinois at an early day, fresh from his studies and in the ardor and vigor of the opening years of a splendid manhood, our subject cast in his lot with the sturdy pioneers whom he found already here, and immediately entered upon an honorable career in his calling. In those days the life of a physician was fraught with hardships inconceivable at the present time, but our subject with cheerful and courageous self-sacrifice. bore them uneomplain- ingly, and soon won a warm place in the hearts of those whom he so faithfully served in their sick . ness and became the friend and counselor of his patients, and was known and welcomed in many a household far and wide. Ill health obliging him to give up the practice of his beloved profession as its duties were too exacting, he has given his at- tention to improving the land that he bought from the Government fifty-seven years ago, which he has developed into a choice farm, one of the pleasant- est places on the DuPage River and Canal. located about a mile and a half from Channahon Village. 1
Mr. Knapp was born in Barre, adjoining the eity of Montpelier, the capital of Vermont, February 12, 1810. Ile received his early education in the excellent schools of his native eity. and then went into the office of Dr. James Spaukling, of Montpe- lier, and while there attended medieal lectures in
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Dartmouth College. Hle subsequently became a student at the Woodstock Medical School, in Ver- mont, whence he was graduated in 1833, hav- ing attained a high standing for scholarship in his class. Hle was then twenty-three years of age and he determined to enter upon his profession in the West, and selecting this county as a suitable field for the exercise of his calling, he left his home among the green hills of his native State on Sep- tember 17, and on October 12, arrived as his desti- nation. He was accompanied by his bride, and with them came George and Russell Tryon, and Miss Emily S. Knapp, (afterward the widow of Mr. Lyman Foster. ) now a resident of Aurora, III., residing with her daughter. The Doctor and his unele. George Tryon, the only other surviving members of the party are now eighty and eighty- five years of age.
Our subject came to Channahon. opened an of- fice occupying it but one day, when he was called seven miles to visit his first patient. He continued the practice of his profession for fifteen years, his patients being scattered over a wide area of coun- try, and he has ridden as far as Rockford. on Rock River, some ninety miles distant, in pursuit of his calling. The country being so sparsely settled, this was a very lonely route and there was a stretch of twenty-five miles on which there was not a house to be seen. The Doctor is a man in advance of his profession. When he was graduated blood-
letting was taught and advised by his instructors as under the old medical regime. but the Doctor when he left school. left that and many other cus- toms that were in use at that time, behind. Our subject had a good opportunity to study the vari- ous forms of malarial fever that was so prevalent in the early days of the settlement of the country, and he had great success in treating the disease, which he observed abated to a great extent after the people had subdued the soil and had it well cultivated. When he first came here, there were five times as many Indians as whites and he has seen as many as five hundred together. They usually camped along the river and often visited the home of our subject and would sit with Mrs. Knapp, who enjoyed the company of the squaws and their little papooses. Having been among the
Indians for at least ten years and carefully ob- served their eustoms and character, he thinks them very much maligned and ill-treated. In his inter- course with them he followed the Golden Rule, and seems to have found his red brethren truthful and honorable. Many years he lived among them and under no circumstances did he ever put any- thing under lock and key; his house was always open day and night and they never offered to molest a thing, which he accounts for by the fact that he always treated them as he would wished to be used. They have come to his house at any hour of the day or night, often under the influence of liquor. and never did they offer to injure a thing. He never met one of them, but what he would advance and shake him politely by the hand and say: "Bu- shu Nic- Kan," which means "How do you do my friend." The Doctor tells the following incident of those days as showing the grateful character of the untutored savage: A Mr. Treat. who was a great friend of the Indians, made a claim on a piece of land on the Des Plaines River, the place on see- tion 11. of this township. now owned by Oscar Mills. He had no money to pay for the land, and the Indians refused to treat with the Government officials until they agreed to give him $1,000 to buy land with. He had always treated the In- dians with consideration, and they held him in great affection. He took care of the grave of one of their elefs who was buried on the place that he owned. now known as Millsdale.
The Doctor located on his present farm which he bought from the Government in the month of Jne. 1835. He built a log house in which he lived for ten years, and in that his children were born. He then replaced it by hi- present substantial and comfortable dwelling. He retired from his profession about 1850, and since then has de- voted himself to the improvement of his place. which at one time comprised two hundred and forty acres, but he has disposed of several acres, and now has a farm of one hundred acres that is one of the most desirable in the locality.
Dr. Kuapp has been twice married. In July. 1833, he was wedded to Miss Almyra Joslyn, daughter of Luke Joslyn. She bore him three sons and one (laughter. as follows: George, a carpenter and
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joiner, of Wiseonsin, married and has one child ; Orrin S., a farmer living near his father, married and has four boys and one girl; Melinda S., the wife of Silas I. Parker, a mechanic and farmer, of Miller County. Mo. The beloved wife of our sub- ject who shared with him the privations and hard- ships of pioneer life, and aided him in the building up of their home, passed to eternal rest in 1861.
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